1961–62 United States Network Television Schedule
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The following is the 1961–62 network television schedule for the three major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States. The schedule covers
primetime Prime time, or peak time, is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for television shows. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to b ...
hours from September 1961 through April 1962. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series cancelled after the 1960–61 season. The previous season had been criticized by
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...
chairman Newton Minow in May 1961. Minow had criticized poor programs and weak network schedules, calling television a " vast wasteland" and calling on television executives to try harder to develop innovative and interesting television programs. Television historians Castleman and Podrazik (1982) believe the 1961–62 season marked a comeback for television, as the networks rearranged their schedules to accommodate the critics. They point out CBS's high-quality legal drama '' The Defenders'', NBC's medical drama '' Dr. Kildare'', CBS's '' The Dick Van Dyke Show'', and ABC's medical drama '' Ben Casey'' as bright spots in the new TV schedule. Despite the praise for these four series, the authors also highlight several less worthy series which debuted during the 1961–62 season: '' Room for One More'', '' Window on Main Street'', '' Hazel'' ("possibly the dumbest family in TV history"), and the truly terrible '' The Hathaways'' ("possibly the worst series ever to air on network TV"). NBC lured Disney's popular anthology series from ABC; '' Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color'' premiered on September 24, 1961. The color programs were a change from the previous ABC programs, which had been seen in black and white. NBC also added a movie night to its schedule; the network paid $25 million for the rights to broadcast 50 20th-Century Fox films on Saturday nights. In April 1962, ABC followed suit when it added its own Sunday night movie to its schedule. All times are Eastern and Pacific. New fall series are highlighted in bold. Each of the 30 highest-rated shows is listed with its rank and rating as determined by
Nielsen Media Research Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...
.Highest-rated series is based on the annual top-rated programs list compiled by
Nielsen Media Research Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...
and reported in: Brooks, Tim & Marsh, Earle (2007). ''The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows'' (9th ed.). New York: Ballantine. .
: Yellow indicates the programs in the top 10 for the season. : Cyan indicates the programs in the top 20 for the season. : Magenta indicates the programs in the top 30 for the season.


Sunday

* formerly '' Walt Disney Presents'' Note: '' Mister Ed'', previously syndicated, aired on CBS, 6:30-7 p.m.


Monday

* In some areas, '' Douglas Edwards with the News'' alongside '' Walter Cronkite with the News'' and '' The Huntley-Brinkley Report'' aired at 6:45 p.m.(ET).


Tuesday

NOTE: On CBS, the summer
anthology series An anthology series is a written series, radio, television, film, or video game series that presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a different ca ...
'' The Comedy Spot'' consisted of broadcasts of unsold
television pilot A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie) in United Kingdom and United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television netwo ...
s, one of which previously had aired in 1960 as an episode of '' New Comedy Showcase''.


Wednesday

Note: '' Mrs. G. Goes to College'' moved to Thursday nights in January as ''The Gertrude Berg Show'', allowing '' The Dick Van Dyke Show'' to take its time spot. Several episodes of '' The Joey Bishop Show'' and '' Wagon Train'' were shown in color.


Thursday

Notes: '' The Bob Cummings Show'' was retitled ''The New Bob Cummings Show'' on December 28. '' The Law and Mr. Jones'' moved to the 9:30-10:00 p.m. time slot on ABC on April 19. '' Hazel'' on November 2, 1961 was shown in color. The episodes of '' Brenner'' that ran on CBS in the summer of 1962 were reruns of episodes from the summer of 1959.


Friday

* formerly '' Eyewitness To History'' ** formerly ''The Chevy Show''


Saturday

'' Room for One More'' aired on ABC from January 27 to July 28, 1962, 8-8:30 p.m. Beginning January 6, '' Matty's Funday Funnies'' became ''Matty's Funnies With Beany & Cecil''.


By network


ABC

Returning Series * '' 77 Sunset Strip'' * '' Adventures in Paradise'' * '' The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet'' * '' The Avengers'' * '' Bachelor Father'' * '' Bronco'' * '' The Bugs Bunny Show'' * '' Cheyenne'' * '' The Donna Reed Show'' * '' Expedition!'' * '' The Fight of the Week'' * ''
The Flintstones ''The Flintstones'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera, Hanna-Barbera Productions, which takes place in a romanticized Stone Age setting and follows the titular family, the Flintstones, and their next-door neighbors, the R ...
'' * '' Hawaiian Eye'' * '' The Law and Mr. Jones'' * '' Lawman'' * '' The Lawrence Welk Show'' * '' Leave It to Beaver'' * '' Make That Spare'' * '' Matty's Funday Funnies'' * '' Maverick'' * ''
My Three Sons ''My Three Sons'' is an American television sitcom that aired from September 29, 1960, to April 13, 1972. The series was filmed in black-and-white and broadcast on ABC during its first five seasons, before moving to CBS for the remaining seve ...
'' * '' Naked City'' * '' The Real McCoys'' * ''
The Rifleman ''The Rifleman'' is an American Western television series starring Chuck Connors as rancher Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as his son Mark McCain. It was set in the 1880s in the fictional town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory. The show ...
'' * '' The Roaring 20's'' * '' The Steve Allen Show'' * '' Surfside 6'' * '' The Untouchables'' New Series * '' Alcoa Premiere'' * '' Ben Casey'' * ''
Bus Stop A bus stop is a place where Public transport bus service, buses stop for passengers to get on and off the bus. The construction of bus stops tends to reflect the level of usage, where stops at busy locations may have shelter (building), shelters ...
'' * '' Calvin and the Colonel'' * '' The Hathaways'' * ''Howard K. Smith: News and Comment'' * * ''
Margie Margie is a feminine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of the related names Margaret, Marjorie, or Margarita, all of which mean "pearl". Margie may refer to: People * Margie Abbott (born 1958), Australian businesswoman * Margie Ac ...
'' * '' The New Breed'' * '' Room for One More'' * * '' Straightaway'' * '' Target: The Corruptors!'' * ''
Top Cat ''Top Cat'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and originally broadcast in prime time on the ABC network. It aired in a weekly evening time slot from September 27, 1961, to April 18, 1962, for a single season ...
'' * '' Yours for a Song'' Not returning from 1960–61: * '' Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond'' * '' The Asphalt Jungle'' * '' Guestward, Ho!'' * '' Harrigan and Son'' * ''
Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
'' * '' The Islanders'' * '' The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp'' *''Music for a Christmas Night'' *''Music for a New Year's Night; Class of 1961'' * ''
Peter Gunn ''Peter Gunn'' is an American detective fiction, private eye television series, starring Craig Stevens (actor), Craig Stevens as Peter Gunn with Lola Albright as his girlfriend, lounge singer Edie Hart. The series was broadcast by NBC from Sept ...
'' * '' The Rebel'' * '' Stagecoach West'' * '' Sugarfoot'' * '' Take a Good Look'' * '' Walt Disney Presents'' (moved to NBC as '' Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color'')


CBS

Returning Series * '' The Alfred Hitchcock Hour'' * '' The Andy Griffith Show'' * ''
Armstrong Circle Theatre ''Armstrong Circle Theatre'' is an American anthology drama television series which ran from June 6, 1950, to June 25, 1957, on NBC, and from October 2, 1957, to August 28, 1963, on CBS. It alternated weekly with '' The United States Steel Ho ...
'' * '' Brenner'' * '' Candid Camera'' * '' CBS News Hour'' * '' CBS Reports'' * ''
Checkmate Checkmate (often shortened to mate) is any game position in chess and other chess-like games in which a player's king is in check (threatened with ) and there is no possible escape. Checkmating the opponent wins the game. In chess, the king is ...
'' * '' The Comedy Spot'' (previously ''Comedy Spotlight'') * '' The Danny Thomas Show'' * '' Dennis the Menace'' * '' Douglas Edwards with the News'' * ''
The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the ''CB ...
'' * '' Eyewitness'' * '' The Garry Moore Show'' * '' General Electric Theatre'' * ''
Gunsmoke ''Gunsmoke'' is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. It centered on Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s, during the settlement of the American West. The central charact ...
'' * '' Have Gun – Will Travel'' * '' Hennesey'' * '' I've Got a Secret'' * '' The Jack Benny Program'' * '' Lassie'' * '' The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis'' * '' Perry Mason'' * '' Pete and Gladys'' * '' Rawhide'' * '' The Red Skelton Show'' * '' Route 66'' * '' Secret Agent'' * ''
To Tell the Truth ''To Tell the Truth'' is an American television panel show. Four celebrity panelists are presented with three contestants (the "team of challengers", each an individual or pair) and must identify which is the "central character" whose unusual ...
'' * '' The Twentieth Century'' * ''
The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology series, anthology television series created by Rod Serling in which characters find themselves dealing with often disturbing or unusual events, an experience described ...
'' * '' The United States Steel Hour'' * '' What's My Line'' New Series * ''Accent on an American Summer'' * '' The Alvin Show'' * '' The Defenders'' * '' The Dick Van Dyke Show'' * '' Eyewitness to History'' * '' Father of the Bride'' * ''
Frontier Circus ''Frontier Circus'' is an American Westerns on television, Western television series about a traveling circus roaming the American West in the 1880s. Filmed by Revue Productions, the program originally aired on CBS from October 5, 1961, until Sep ...
'' * '' Ichabod and Me'' * '' The Investigators'' * '' Mister Ed'' * * '' Mrs. G. Goes to College''/''The Gertrude Berg Show'' * '' The New Bob Cummings Show'' * '' Oh! Those Bells'' * * ''
Password A password, sometimes called a passcode, is secret data, typically a string of characters, usually used to confirm a user's identity. Traditionally, passwords were expected to be memorized, but the large number of password-protected services t ...
'' * * '' Tell It to Groucho'' * * '' Tell It to the Camera'' * * '' Walter Cronkite with the News'' * * '' Window on Main Street'' Not returning from 1960–61: * ''
Angel An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...
'' * '' The Ann Sothern Show'' * '' The Aquanauts'' * '' Bringing Up Buddy'' * '' Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater'' * '' The DuPont Show with June Allyson'' * '' Frontier Justice'' * '' Glenn Miller Time'' * '' Gunslinger'' * '' Holiday Lodge'' * '' Mr. Garlund'' * '' My Sister Eileen'' * '' Person to Person'' * '' The Spike Jones Show'' * ''Summer Sports Spectacular'' * '' The Tom Ewell Show'' * '' Wanted Dead or Alive'' * '' 'Way Out'' * '' The Witness''


NBC

Returning Series * '' The Art Linkletter Show'' * '' The Bell Telephone Hour'' * ''
Bonanza ''Bonanza'' is an American Western television series that ran on NBC from September 12, 1959, to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 431 episodes, ''Bonanza'' is NBC's longest-running Western, the second-longest-running Western series on ...
'' * '' Chet Huntley Reporting'' * '' The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor'' * '' The Dinah Shore Show'' * '' Ford Presents the New Christy Minstrels'' * '' The Huntley–Brinkley Report'' * '' The Jack Benny Program'' * ''
Kraft Music Hall ''The Kraft Music Hall'' was a popular old-time radio variety show, variety program, featuring top show business entertainers, which aired first on NBC radio from 1933 to 1949. Radio ''The Kraft Program'' debuted June 26, 1933, as a musical- ...
'' starring ''
Perry Como Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como (; May 18, 1912 – May 12, 2001) was an American singer, actor, and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century, he recorded exclusively for RCA Victor for 44 years, from 1943 until 1987 ...
'' * '' Laramie'' * '' National Velvet'' * '' Outlaws'' * '' Sing Along with Mitch'' * '' Tales of Wells Fargo'' * '' Thriller'' * '' Wagon Train'' * '' Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color'' (moved from ABC) New Series * '' 87th Precinct'' * '' The Bob Newhart Show'' * '' The Bullwinkle Show'' * '' Cain's Hundred'' * ''
Car 54, Where Are You? ''Car 54, Where Are You?'' is an American sitcom that aired on NBC from September 1961 to April 1963. Filmed in black and white, the series starred Joe E. Ross as Gunther Toody and Fred Gwynne as Francis Muldoon, two mismatched New York City Po ...
'' * '' David Brinkley's Journal'' * '' The Dick Powell Show'' * '' Dr. Kildare'' * '' The DuPont Show of the Week'' * '' Hazel'' * '' Here and Now'' * '' International Showtime'' * * '' NBC Saturday Night at the Movies'' * '' Theatre '62'' Not returning from 1960–61: * ''
Acapulco Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , ; ), is a city and Port of Acapulco, major seaport in the Political divisions of Mexico, state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Located on a deep, semicirc ...
'' * ''
The Americans ''The Americans'' is an American historical drama, period spy fiction, spy drama television series created by Joe Weisberg for FX (TV channel), FX. It aired for six seasons from 2013 to 2018. Weisberg and Joel Fields also served as showrunners ...
'' * '' The Art Carney Special'' * '' The Barbara Stanwyck Show'' * ''
Bat Masterson Bartholemew William Barclay "Bat" Masterson (November 26, 1853 – October 25, 1921) was a U.S. Army scout, lawman, professional gambler, and journalist known for his exploits in the late 19th and early 20th-century American Old West. He was bo ...
'' * '' The Campaign and the Candidates'' * '' The Chevy Mystery Show'' * ''
Concentration In chemistry, concentration is the abundance of a constituent divided by the total volume of a mixture. Several types of mathematical description can be distinguished: '' mass concentration'', '' molar concentration'', '' number concentration'', ...
'' * '' Dan Raven'' * ''
Dante Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...
'' * '' The Deputy'' * '' The Dinah Shore Chevy Show'' * ''
Five Star Jubilee ''Five Star Jubilee'' is an American country music variety show carried by National Broadcasting Company, NBC-TV from March 17–September 22, 1961. The live program, a Spin-off (media), spin-off of ABC-TV's ''Ozark Jubilee, Jubilee USA'', wa ...
'' * '' The Ford Show'' * '' Great Ghost Tales'' * '' The Groucho Show'' * '' Happy'' * '' It Could Be You'' * '' Jackpot Bowling starring Milton Berle'' * '' Klondike'' * '' The Man from Interpol'' * '' Michael Shayne'' * ''The Nation's Future'' * '' Omnibus'' * '' One Happy Family'' * '' Peter Loves Mary'' * '' Riverboat'' * '' Shirley Temple's Storybook'' * '' The Tab Hunter Show'' * '' The Tall Man'' * '' This Is Your Life'' * '' The Westerner'' * '' Westinghouse Playhouse Starring Nanette Fabray and Wendell Corey'' * '' Westinghouse Preview Theatre'' Note: The * indicates that the program was introduced in midseason.


References

* Castleman, H. & Podrazik, W. (1982). ''Watching TV: Four Decades of American Television''. New York: McGraw-Hill. 314 pp. * McNeil, Alex. ''Total Television''. Fourth edition. New York: Penguin Books. . * Brooks, Tim & Marsh, Earle (1984). ''The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows'' (3rd ed.). New York: Ballantine. . {{DEFAULTSORT:1961-62 United States network television schedule United States primetime network television schedules 1961 in American television 1962 in American television